Chapter 32: Punishment
【One disciplinary action issued to the invigilator.】

Qin Jiu: “Heh.”

At that moment, Qin Jiu no longer resembled an invigilator at all.

He looked more like an examinee who refused to be controlled—arrogant, sharp, and carrying an untamed confidence.

It had to be admitted:

to many people, that kind of presence was irresistibly attractive.

Even though they had only known each other for a few days, You Huo suddenly developed an inexplicably certain intuition.

He felt…

that this version of Qin Jiu was far closer to his true nature.

And strangely enough, much easier on the eyes.

Qin Jiu stopped in front of him and pulled a lighter from his pocket.

“I found this by the river,” he said lazily. “No idea which poorly behaved examinee littered here.”

You Huo’s expression immediately darkened.

He thought:

So I really had gone insane just now. Easy on the eyes my ass.

Qin Jiu flicked the lighter.

Click.

A flame sprang up.

He blew it out with a puff of breath and snapped the lid shut again.

“No one claiming it?”

You Huo snatched it away at once and sneered coldly:

“Can’t speak without provoking people?”

Qin Jiu laughed softly.

“Likewise.”

You Huo’s face stiffened completely.

He didn’t want to talk to Qin Jiu anymore.

But after a few seconds, he still asked:

“That fire… you started all of it?”

Qin Jiu replied:

“Not necessarily. Could’ve been spontaneous combustion.”

You Huo: “……”

Seeing the rare eye-roll from the great boss, Qin Jiu laughed again.

“There’s anyone else here with enough free time to set an entire forest on fire?”

“You insist on asking questions with obvious answers. I can only cooperate by giving you something creative.”

You Huo mocked:

“How difficult for you.”

“My pleasure,” Qin Jiu replied.

You Huo: “……”

“So where exactly did you get the time? You were still there when I was delivering gifts by the river.”

“Oh, that.” Qin Jiu glanced around casually. “Thanks to the parade of severed limbs. They weren’t crazy enough to chase invigilators too.”

“You people ran faster than rabbits. One blink and everyone disappeared into the forest.”

“I thought it looked pretty boring, and all the village doors happened to be open, so I took a little tour and borrowed a few barrels of oil.”

You Huo narrowed his eyes.

“You poured it around the forest?”

Qin Jiu evaluated:

“A perfectly average idiot’s method.”

You Huo: “……”

He had only asked casually.

That didn’t mean he would have done it that way himself.

But the way Qin Jiu emphasized “idiot” while glancing at him gave the sentence an unmistakably pointed flavor.

This man truly had a death wish.

Qin Jiu admired You Huo’s increasingly terrible expression and still refused to stop.

“Simple methods work well enough, but they’re boring. I don’t really like boring.”

You Huo actually agreed.

He simply refused to say so.

“So instead,” Qin Jiu continued, “I just poured the oil directly onto the limbs.”

Then all those severed arms and legs scattered through the forest like dandelion seeds in spring, carrying oil everywhere they crawled.

Every time Qin Jiu found a barrel, he dumped it on a cluster nearby.

He found twelve barrels total.

Used eleven and a half.

Eventually the ghost limbs finally realized he was a walking disaster and started avoiding him from a distance.

So Invigilator 001, operating under the philosophy of since it’s already open, don’t waste it, carried the remaining half-barrel into the forest.

At last You Huo couldn’t help asking:

“You started pouring oil ahead of time. Doesn’t that count as cheating?”

“Predictive judgment is a required skill for all invigilators,” Qin Jiu answered.

After years of monitoring exams, he could accurately predict what kind of assistance examinees would request and when.

Making preparations in advance was something many invigilators did.

Otherwise, when something actually happened, there often wouldn’t be enough time to respond.

…

Qin Jiu pulled the Help Card from his coat pocket.

Holding it between two fingers, he waved it lightly before You Huo.

“With this card as a prerequisite, how could it count as cheating?”

“You mean the Help Card’s already been used?” You Huo frowned. “Impossible. I never wrote 001.”

“Didn’t write 001?” Qin Jiu assumed he simply didn’t want to admit it and laughed softly. “Then why exactly am I standing here?”

“Who knows,” You Huo replied.

Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes.

“You didn’t write 001… so what did you write?”

“Don’t tell me you wrote my name.”

You Huo thought:

Who the hell even knows your name? Narcissist.

His voice turned rigid.

“Forgot. I wrote too fast. But it definitely wasn’t you.”

“And if it really were you, why hasn’t the Help Card changed at all?”

The moment he finished speaking, sparks suddenly appeared along the edge of the card in Qin Jiu’s hand.

Without wind or warning, it burst into flames.

As it crumbled into ashes, a crow landed on a dead branch nearby with a flap of wings.

Opening its beak, it croaked hoarsely:

【Examinee You Huo received one Help Card.
One has been used.
Remaining: zero.】

You Huo: “……”

Trash exam system.

Public retaliation.

Qin Jiu spread his fingers.

Ash drifted through the gaps and scattered across the ground.

“See?” he said lazily. “System-certified.”

Certified your grandma.

Wearing an extraordinarily handsome coffin-face, You Huo gripped the lighter and turned away without another word.

He went to find the others.

…

Behind Qin Jiu, the tree You Huo had braced against earlier had cracked from the heat.

Near the middle of the trunk was a faint gray smear—finger traces left in ash.

If examined carefully, the marks formed two letters:

Gi

Qin Jiu’s gaze swept across them.

He was just about to step closer when someone suddenly stumbled out beside the sea of flames.

…

The man staggered to a stop, staring directly at Invigilator 001.

His face looked weathered.

His clothes were torn and filthy.

Yet his eyes shone like stars in the dead of winter.

It was Zhao Wentu.

After a very long silence, Zhao Wentu murmured dazedly:

“Qin… Jiu? Qin Jiu?”

Qin Jiu froze slightly, his brows drawing together.

“You know me?”

Zhao Wentu seemed half-awake, half-trapped inside a dream from many years ago.

He smiled.

For one fleeting instant, he resembled the spirited young man from the gravestone photo again.

“How could I not know you?” he said.

“We took three exams together.”

“You probably don’t remember me anymore, but I remember you.”

“Why are you here?” Zhao Wentu sighed softly. “Where’s that invigilator who never got along with you? Not around?”

“Which invigilator?” Qin Jiu asked quietly.

Zhao Wentu lowered his voice.

“Invigilator A.”

Hearing that title from someone else made something twitch faintly in Qin Jiu’s chest.

He couldn’t tell whether the feeling was pleasant or unpleasant.

Zhao Wentu continued:

“Weren’t you absurdly unlucky? Always assigned to the same exam hall as him?”

“This time he’s not here?”

Qin Jiu didn’t immediately shatter the man’s illusion.

He merely gave a soft “Mm.”

“Haven’t seen you in a long time,” Zhao Wentu said. “How many exams have you cleared now? Can you leave successfully?”

Then he lowered his voice again.

“That was a stupid question.”

“Someone like you definitely can.”

“But I can’t…”

He turned toward the fire.

“I can’t leave anymore. And even if I could, it wouldn’t matter.”

“I might not even count as human anymore.”

Qin Jiu watched him silently.

Zhao Wentu stood there for a long while, as though trying to memorize this moment beneath the blazing sky.

At last he reached into his coat and pulled something out.

“I should go now,” he said softly.

“Can you keep this for me?”

Qin Jiu looked down.

It was the waterproof pouch.

Inside lay the diary intact.

Alongside it sat an old dusty phone that clearly hadn’t been used in years.

“I just remembered where I hid it,” Zhao Wentu said, tapping the phone lightly.

“I don’t really want to disappear completely.”

“At least these prove I existed.”

Qin Jiu paused briefly.

“…Alright.”

Zhao Wentu finally relaxed.

“I’m Zhao Wentu.”

“My name is Zhao Wentu…”

He laughed loudly again.

Then turned and rushed directly into the sea of flames.

Qin Jiu stood there for a long time holding the waterproof pouch.

Like he was silently seeing off an unfamiliar friend.

Only after the fire spread closer did he finally put the items away.

…

Voices sounded nearby.

You Huo had found the others one by one.

Thankfully Qin Jiu’s fire had spread in time, and no one died.

The blaze consumed every corner of the exam hall.

Yet the patch of ground beneath their feet remained untouched.

Perhaps the system reluctantly preserved one final safe zone—

just enough for them to hear the last exam results.

Crows from every remaining house flew over and lined themselves along the dead branches overhead.

The instant Zhao Wentu’s figure disappeared completely, the crows cried out:

【Exam hall collapse detected.
Recovery impossible.
Exam terminated.】

Everyone: “…………”

This exam consisted of two sections.

Listening Section — 3 questions, total 15 points:

(1) What is the Black Hag’s name? (5 points)

(2) Where is the Black Hag’s family? Please find them. (5 points)

(3) How many people are inside the Black Hag’s house? (5 points)

Reading Section — 2 questions:

(1) Help the Black Hag deliver gifts to the villagers. (9 points)

(2) Find the road home. (3 points)

Black Hag’s name: 5 points.
Deliver gifts: 9 points.
Find the road home: 3 points.

Chen Bin stared blankly.

This was his first time hearing an exam conclusion like this.

After a long while, he finally asked:

“When exactly did we find the road home?”

“At one point I genuinely thought there wasn’t any road at all.”

Yu Wen waved his hand dramatically.

“Once the fire finishes burning, will there still be a forest?”

“If there’s no forest left, then everywhere becomes the road home!”

Chen Bin: “??????”

The system continued announcing the final results:

【Examinees obtained a total of 17 points, exceeding the average score by 12 points.】

【Total exam duration: two and a half days.
Compared to the average completion time, seven days and five hours were saved.】

Another high score.

Another early completion.

And they even blew up the exam hall.

Everyone was just about to cheer—

when the system, after holding back for a long while, reluctantly added:

【Permanent damage sustained by exam hall.
5 points deducted from total score.
Final score: 12 points.】

You Huo sneered.

Then came the final line:

【One disciplinary action issued to the invigilator.】

Qin Jiu: “Heh.”